Character Backpacks and Sheets

Abe's 1st Day of School
Yes, his hair is sticking up. He got a bath before dinner last night and then dumped his macaroni and cheese on his head, so we washed his hair right before bed.

When it became evident to us that we were going to have to make the big move, I was concerned about space. We moved from about 2200 square feet into almost 1400 - and remember there are 6 of us. When put into perspective of all we have compared to others, we are blessed and the size of the house didn't really concern me. What did concern me was figuring out how to cram all the stuff we had in a much smaller space. Here was the biggest challenge:

Who shares a room with who? We had 3 bedrooms and a HUGE bonus in the old house. Ben had a room, Abe had a room, and the girls shared the bonus. Here we have 3 bedrooms, period. After much thinking and praying here was the solution. AB would get her own room. She is 5 years older than MC and has moved from toys to gadgets which don't take up much space. We would take the larger of the secondary bedrooms and put the "babies" in the master, where there is lots of room for toys. MC was not real happy with the idea, because she did not want to be in a "boy" room. So what does any mom exercising authority and demanding respect do...Bribe her. She was promised Hello Kitty sheets. On the trip to Target, she abandoned Hello Kitty and decided to get Ariele instead. I couldn't say no to Ben when he asked for the Transformer ones. So we came home with 2 sets of character sheets. I am more of the Pottery Barn Kids type, so this was a huge step for me. Besides the fact that they are tacky (just my opinion, and you can throw a nice comforter over them anyway) have you ever actually slept on them? They are soooo uncomfortable. I think they have a thread count of about 4. The kids were excited, and then Ben crawled in. "Momma, did you wash these sheets?" he asked. "Because I feel wike there are cwumbs in them." Yes, I did wash the sheets...they are just that bad. I offered to change them, which is huge because he sleeps on the top bunk and changing his sheets is no fun, but he refused and has slept on them every night since.

Backpacks. Oh, backpacks. I love getting the kids cute backpacks with their names monogrammed on them, and they already have these precious lunchboxes. I didn't even think about the younger kids needing them until meet the teacher last Wednesday. I had been so concerned getting AB ready, that I forgot backpacks for the middle two. So, we took a trip to the mall to find backpacks. Lo and behold the dadgum Disney store had theirs displayed perfectly for little eyes. With a pit in my stomach, we picked out Tinkerbell (surprising given our obsession with Ariel) and Power Rangers (who I personally don't like, but it seems Cars and Buzz Lightyear are for babies). The matching lunchboxes were free. I actually spent less on 2 backpacks and lunchboxes than I would have on one cute, precious one and I am the only one sad. At least AB wasn't there. The Hannah Montana get-up was HORRENDOUS!